Updated 3:34 pm, Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Photo: Andy Newman, HO

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The new Carnival Magic departs Messina, Italy, Thursday, May 5, 2011, during its nine-day inaugural cruise. The ship accommodates 3,690 passengers and was built in Italy. Carnival Magic is to operate a schedule of seven- to 12-day Mediterranean voyages from Barcelona this summer. Owned by Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines, the vessel is to be repositioned in November to Galveston, Texas, for year-round seven-day Caribbean cruises. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY Photo by Andy Newman/Carnival Cruise Lines less

The new Carnival Magic departs Messina, Italy, Thursday, May 5, 2011, during its nine-day inaugural cruise. The ship accommodates 3,690 passengers and was built in Italy. Carnival Magic is to operate a schedule ... more

After weeks of anticipation, you've finally boarded a cruise ship for a five-day voyage to paradise. Safely on board, your mind takes you though a quick checklist:

Toothbrush? Got it.

Cash? Got it.

Cellphone? Got it.

Warrant? Go to jail.

A trip to the Galveston County Jail is just what happened to three women and two men in Galveston Sunday when they returned from a cruise aboard the Carnival Magic. The reason, a port official said, is that they neglected to take care of their outstanding warrants before they boarded the ship.

"When you depart on a cruise ship, the manifest, or listing of passengers, goes to U.S. Customs and Border Protection," said Port of Galveston Director Michael Mierzwa. "They'll run the names through various databases while you're out on the cruise. If there's a 'hit,' you can expect a visit from CBP when you get back."

The warrants that were served Sunday ran the gamut from felony property damage to felony tampering with government records and forgery.

Cruise passengers with outstanding warrants are taken into custody on a regular basis, Mierzwa said, but usually only one or two from a given ship. Logging in five arrests from one cruise, he said, was out of the norm.

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Customs investigators typically uncover warrants while the ship is at sea, so they have plenty of time to coordinate with port officials and Galveston County sheriff's deputies to pinpoint the suspects when they arrive.

"They'll try to locate the individual before they (passengers) start to depart," Mierzwa said. "Typically they won't start disembarking passengers until they've located the people they're looking for."

The long arm of the law may not extend out to international waters, but it's ready and able on land.

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"If you think you have a warrant out there, you better take care of it before you go on a cruise," Mierzwa said. "If you have a problem, they're going to catch up with you."